Five encounters. A raised chain stitch through them all.
A dear friend I have not seen nor talked to in nearly five years. She texted the link to a Gary Brecka (human biologist and former actuarial professional) video about health pillars like breathing and spending time outside … sun and bare feet … living alive. Surprised, I clarified that she had meant to send the text to me.
Chad, the anesthesiologist. Breathe. I read you love gardening. I love it too. Let me show you photos of the beds I’ve built. This … being outside, making time to do what you love and makes you come alive … this is why I see 85-year-olds who are vastly more vibrant than 30-somethings who spend their lives in front of a television or computer screen.
The beloved son-in-law. My “The Feather Thief” reading buddy. Registered nurse. He is pursuing FFI certification to become a fly fishing educator and instructor in his spare time. Working through a response to the Y and his local library about how he would organize a class on fly tying and casting at the same time he’s been charged with organizing a new educational platform at his hospital, his thoughts about next steps are scattershot. We see the minute when he looks up from his notes to come alive telling us that his goal with fly fishing education and guiding is mental health. He holds up his iphone. We don’t get away from this anymore. We don’t turn off the noise and it’s killing us. Fly fishing is about being outside, quiet and fully present.
Ruth Reichl. I devoured “The Paris Novel.” The story of a young literary agent waking up from the dead of her past to come fully and truly, gloriously alive on and in the delicious streets and restaurants of Paris. Tasting to see.
Scholar, author, speaker Courtney Doctor. Capstone on this week of new encounters around the subjects of identity, living like free people, and coming alive to taste and see, her new book, From Garden to Glory, is out. It is theatre. It is life. If you are implacable in your response to the call of a Maker who wants you to be alive, it is a fast-paced read that starts with an apple.
